Hiplok Swap Evaluation: Simple-to-Carry Bike Lock

The new Hiplok Switch system allows you to mount your lock to your bike — but that’s nothing new to the industry. What is new is that you can remove the lock mount from your bike and replace it with the accessory of your choice — quickly and without the use of a tool.

Hiplok Switch is a Sold Secure folding lock, a style that we have seen from some other brands. This allows for a larger variation in locking locations and the ability to lock more bikes at once than a standard Hiplok DX U-Lock.

The compact folding size also makes it much less cumbersome and lighter than the Hiplok wearable chain locks.

Hiplok Switch Review

Overview

The Hiplok Switch comes with four parts:

• Folding lock with keys
• Holster (with hip clip): This holds the lock and is the attachment point for the bracket
• Bracket: Attaches to your bike with screws
• Switch Plate: Attaches to your water bottle cage or other bicycle accessory, so you never have to remove the bracket

The Hiplok Switch allows you to wear the lock using the Holster’s hip clip design. This fits the secure mount (Switch Bracket), which screws to your water bottle bosses on your bicycle.

And the system includes a spare clip (Switch Plate) that fits your water bottle cage or favorite accessory, and locks into the Bracket.

With this patented clip system, you can unclip the lock holster from the bike and clip in your water bottle cage in a matter of seconds, and with no tools.

This makes rides when you don’t need a lock easier — no need to unbolt your lock mount, and then attach your water bottle cage. Just unclip the lock holster and clip in the water bottle cage (or other accessory).

The Hardware

After riding with the lock on my bike (and on my hip) for a couple of weeks, I’m impressed. The mount fits the lock snugly and doesn’t produce any rattling while road or trail riding.

The clip system works quite well. So far, it’s proven strong and durable enough that I’m not worried about it breaking over extended use.

Removing the clip from its mounting plate is easy to do one-handed, and can even be done easily with gloves or mittens on — for those of us who are winter riders in Minnesota.

While the lock mount clicks into place easily when slid onto the mounting plate, the water-bottle switch plate required more downward pressure on the locking tab to engage. Once locked, I had no issues with it coming unlocked or moving around.

Fit

The mount bracket and switch plate combination is ⅝-inch thick, so on some tighter geometry bicycles, the mount system water bottle cage combo may interfere with another water bottle or your bike frame.

However, I mounted this system on six different bikes to test whether I would have any issues with interference based on different geometries and had no issues in any of those tests.

The switch plate also created no interference with the water bottle in any way. It appears very universal, with a 2.5-inch, on-center bolt spacing that will accommodate most accessories easily.

Wearing the Hiplok Switch

The Hip-clip feature of the lock, which allows riders to wear lock on-body or bag, works well.

It is easy to attach and remove from a belt or strap, and holds quite tightly. The lock didn’t bounce around when worn and is more comfortable than Hiplok’s wearable U-lock, due to being smaller and only attaching at one point.

When the bike is locked, I just wore the Hip-clip holster. This may seem cumbersome, but I barely noticed I was wearing it. This lock will continue to see regular use from me as spring arrives and I hit the road on my bicycle more often.

Who Will Like It

This lock excels at short lockups — on-the-go rides where ultra-high security is not necessary. Thus, it may be a better fit for urban, daily commuters more than long-term (overnight) outdoor bike parking.

Also, given its relatively light weight — 2.3 pounds — it will serve folks who are more interested in comfortable rides than high-performance, fast ones.

The 85cm locking length allows riders to easily lock multiple bikes together, or to lock a bike to larger items that a typical U-lock can’t accommodate — think light poles, signs, or other secure fixtures around a city.

Best of all, the Hiplok Switch relieves users from having to carry around any extra hardware. The key is all you need! Plus, unlike many other mounted lock systems, the Switch did not rattle on any terrain.

Drawbacks

No product serves all needs for every person. So, there are some notes worth considering to know if this is the right lock for you.

I hesitate to use this as a con, but higher security is always a plus. Hiplok sells each lock with a “Sold Secure” rating. The Hiplok switch comes in at a Bronze ranking, which is much lower than what I have come to expect from Hiplok’s lineup.

However, not every situation requires a diamond-rated lock with crazy high security. If you are looking for a higher security lock, check out my review on the Hiplok D1000, my favorite, and the most secure lock I’ve ever tested.

Also, when wearing the lock on a thick belt or strap, I found the Hip-clip did not easily seat well onto my belt. It was somewhat top-heavy and fell off my belt.

I only found this to be an issue with one very thick leather belt I own. A little extra care when clipping it onto the belt allowed it to seat correctly, and I no longer had this issue.

Other Notes

I found it interesting that this lock sports a disk style key and tumbler rather than the laser-cut keys that most of the other Hiploks use.

I do not know if this affects security in any way, as many high-security locks use this style of key and tumbler.

FAQ